Chapter Text
Porsche had been different since the day he’d first opened his eyes. He hadn’t always known it, but as the years went by, he came to realize no one else saw the world with the touches of brilliance and magic that he saw. His mother, when he asked her about it, explained.
“Magic is real,” she whispered to him, in the quiet of the night when his dad had taken Chay with him to go get groceries. “The magic humans are able to use is called Soul Flames . There are many people who have the potential to use soul flames and most don’t realize there’s anything abnormal about them. But those who unlock their potential are able to accomplish things you’d think impossible. We are unique, though. You, like the rest of those in my line, are able to see the residue of soul flames that are left behind. If you focus, you’ll be able to see which type of flames a person caries, if they carry them at all, and if they have unlocked their potential to use flames or not.
“It’s a wonderous gift and a useful one, but you must never share that you have this gift. There are those that would take advantage of you and use you to hurt others. It will be lonely being unable to share this gift. I’m the only remaining member of my family with the gift and your brother may not ever develop his. Promise me you won’t ever tell anyone unless absolutely necessary.”
“I promise, mom.” The house was silent aside from Porsche and his mother’s quiet breathing and the promise felt weighty as it left his lips.
“Not even your brother. If Porchay doesn’t develop our family’s ability or unlock his soul flames, he can’t know. It’s already evident he has latent flames, I’ll teach you how to recognize them and identify the different types, but your brother might never awaken his flames and as such he should have the opportunity to live as a civilian, away from all the chaos that flames bring.” Nampheung sounded sad as she said the last part. Porsche wasn’t used to seeing his mom sad and he immediately wanted to change the subject away from whatever was making her upset.
“What are the different colors? And why do they behave differently? Like, my classmate has green but it’s in his chest and doesn’t ever change but you have a brighter green and it swirls with white and moves around a lot. Why are they different?” Porsche asked. Nampheung smiled fondly and he preened.
“Your classmate’s flames won’t move because he hasn’t activated his flames. To activate your flame, you have to either be born with an ability driving them, like you and I, or you have to go through a traumatic event. You know what the mafia is, yes? I know you like your mangas. But the real world isn’t like in your stories. The real mafia is cruel and takes advantage of whatever advantages it can, including people with flames.
“Most of the mafia families that collect flame actives actives reside in Italy and they try to keep those outside of Italy from finding out about flames. Those groups call flames «Dying Will Flames» and this is because flames are a manifestation of the soul’s will. Your will usually comes out most in dire situations and that’s when most flame latents activate their flames. After that critical moment, most flame actives can then train their flames to do impossible things.
“There are seven different flame types and they are determined mostly by personality. Red storms are driven by their desires. They have the power of disintegration and can destroy with ease. Orange skies have the attribute of harmonization. They crave acceptance and want to surround themselves with a group they can support and call their own. Yellow suns are intensely active and crave stimulation to keep from becoming bored. Their attribute is called activation and they can use it to speed up someone’s healing process. Green lightnings, like me, are ambitious and want to achieve something. Lightnings are best with endurance and their main attribute is hardening. Blue rains are reliable and stick to what they believe in. Their attribute is tranquility and they can use it to slow down their opponents or calm their friends. Indigo mists have the ability of Construction. Mists are creative and can weave reality into illusions that could drive you insane. Purple clouds want independence and have the ability of propagation, which allows them to replicate non-living things.” The explanation was lengthy and Porsche had to ask a lot of questions to understand it fully, but it was really interesting.
“What am I then, mom? And Porchay?”
“Well what color is your brother?”
“Oh! He’s indigo! So he’d be a mist, right? That makes sense since he loves to draw and sing and practice music and stuff. My little brother is so cool.” Nampheung grinned in response.
“Yes, Porchay is a mist latent and he’ll always pursue avenues that allow him to express himself.”
“Avenues? Like roads?”
“Yes, like roads, but more in the abstract way like ways.”
“Oh. But what am I then? I don’t see a color when I look in the mirror.”
“No, you wouldn’t usually. To see your own flames, you have to focus on yourself and your will. Your will is your determination and it is powered by the things you want the most. Close your eyes and see if you find anything while focusing.” Porsche followed his mom’s instructions and shut his eyes tightly. What did he want though?
I want a new toy car . Even when he focused, he still didn’t feel anything. Frustrated, he was about to give up and open his eyes again but his mom stopped him.
“Try thinking about the things you’d be willing to die for. Things that you’d regret if you couldn’t do them. For me, I want to keep my family safe and have a happy life with your father.”
I want to protect my family too. I want to keep Porchay safe. I want to make new friends. I want to have my family be happy all the time. As he continued to think about his deeper desires, his mind started to fill with the image of a ball of light mutating and pulsing brightly. It was a bright yellow-orange, more orange than yellow but not quite orange enough to just be orange.
“Yes,” his mom agreed when he told her what he’d seen. “You have two flames, sun and sky. Your sky flame is your primary flame and will be the easiest to access, but your secondary sun flames can still be used if you practice. Out of flame users, active and latent, a good thirty percent have a secondary flame that influence their flames. Most aren’t able to use their secondary flame as their secondary flames are much weaker or they just don’t take the time and effort to practice drawing out their secondary flames.”
Porsche was really excited and ready to ask more questions but it was late and his mom made him go to bed as soon as his brother and dad got home.
The next few years were spent learning in secret about flames and how to recognize them. He learned how to use his sky flames to make people like him and how to reverse the effect and hide his flames so people didn’t notice him as much. The latter was a lot harder than the former and it took a lot of focus. He also learned how to bring out his sun flames and heal himself when he got hurt. His mom cut herself a few times on purpose so he could practice healing her but he didn’t like that and they had an argument that she eventually won when she pointed out he might need the skill to heal another person if there was an emergency.
Then, when he was around ten, the unthinkable happened and his parents died. He blocked the memory from his mind but his uncle told him it had been a car accident. He hated himself for not having been able to use his sun flames and heal his parents, but he hid his feelings so Chay wouldn’t be worried.
The years following the accident were tough as his uncle Thee started gambling and he had to start taking care of Chay by himself. His grades got worse as he had to spend his time working anywhere that would hire him. He learned how to fight so he could defend himself and Chay and that turned into fighting for money. After finishing high school, he decided not to go to college and threw himself into bartending and fighting and doing odd jobs to raise money he could use to pay off his debts.
Every so often, whenever he could, he bought chay things he could use to be creative. Pencils and sharpeners when Chay was into drawing, paints when Chay looked into more colorful art, and a guitar when Chay seemed fascinated by music. Sure, it would have been cheaper to go without buying art supplies, but this was his brother and he’d support his brother with everything he had.
Porsche found a balance with his life, his love for his brother justifying his fighting injuries and bags under his eyes from working long hours. It wasn’t ideal, but he could do it. He just had to get Chay through high school and college and then he could plan for more.
Nothing could ever go as planned, though, and everything would change when a chance incident crushed all his hopes of keeping away from the world of flames and mafia.